Case Marking Research Articles

Testing the Continuum/Spectrum Model in Russian-Speaking Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Previously, Lancaster and Camarata (2019) showed that the continuum/spectrum model of the developmental language disorder (DLD) best explained the high heterogeneity of symptoms in children with DLD. We hypothesize that the continuum/spectrum approach can include not only children with DLD but also typically developing (TD) children with different timelines and patterns of language acquisition. This model can explain individual language profiles and deficits in children. We assessed language abilities in a group of Russian-speaking children with DLD aged 4-7 years (n = 53) and their age- and gender-matched peers without speech and language diagnoses (n = 53, TD). We evaluated the children's performance at four language levels in production and comprehension domains, using 11 subtests of the standardized language assessment for Russian: Russian Child Language Assessment Battery (RuCLAB). Using the k-means cluster method and RuCLAB scores, we obtained two clusters of children and analyzed their language performance in individual subtests. The analysis revealed that the two clusters of children both included DLD and TD participants: Group 1, with higher test scores (TD = 45, DLD = 24 children), and Group 2, with lower scores (TD = 8, DLD = 29). Children from Group 1 mostly had lower scores at one of the language levels, whereas those from Group 2 struggled at several language levels. Furthermore, children with DLD from both groups tended to be more sensitive to linguistic features such as word length, noun case, and sentence reversibility compared to TD children. The presence of two mixed groups shows that children with diagnosed DLD could perform on par with TD children, whereas some younger TD children could perform similarly to children with DLD. Our findings support the continuum/spectrum model: Linguistic skills in preschool children are a continuum, varying from high to poor skills at all language levels in comprehension and production. To describe a child's language profile, the tasks assessing all language levels should be used. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25521400.

(Heritage) Russian Case Marking: Variation and Paths of Change

Russian’s six cases and multiple noun classes make case marking potentially challenging ground for heritage speakers. Indeed, morphological levelling, “probably the best-described feature of language loss”, has been substantiated. One study from 2006 showed that Heritage Russian speakers in the USA produced canonical or prescribed markers for only 13% of preposition+nominal sequences. Conversely, another study from 2020 found that Heritage Russian speakers in Toronto produce a 94% canonical case marker rate in conversational speech. To explore the effects of methodological differences across several studies, the current paper circumscribes the context to preposition+nominal sequences in Heritage Russian speech from the same Toronto corpus as used by the 2020 study but mirroring the domain investigated by Polinsky and including a Homeland comparison to consider changes in both the rates of use of canonical case marking and distributional patterns of non-canonical use. Regression models show more canonical case marking in more frequent words, an independent effect of slightly more mismatch by later generations, but less morphological levelling than reported by Polinsky. Lexicon size does not predict case marking rates as strongly as language usage patterns do, but generation, since immigration, is the best-fitting social predictor. We confirm (small) rate changes in Heritage (vs. Homeland) Russian canonical case marking but not in patterns of levelling.

Diachronic pathways to case marking alignment and what they mean for the explanation of synchronic cross-linguistic patterns

Abstract Case marking alignment has been assumed to reflect principles of optimization: dedicated case marking is limited to arguments more in need of disambiguation, and semantically or pragmatically similar arguments are encoded by the same case forms. This view is based on the synchronic properties of the relevant alignment patterns and the cross-linguistic rarity of other logically possible ones, not diachronic phenomena involved in their emergence or cross-linguistic distribution. This paper explores several developmental processes that recurrently give rise to accusative, ergative, and active case marking alignment cross-linguistically, including reanalysis of argument structure, the development of case forms through grammaticalization or phonological reduction, and the extension of an existing case form to novel contexts. These processes appear to be driven by inherent or contextual properties of particular source constructions, independent of principles of optimization in the use of case marking. The synchronic properties of the resulting alignment patterns cannot be taken as evidence for such principles either, because they are due to inheritance (a case form inherits the distribution of particular source elements or developmental processes, which is unrelated to the assumed optimization principles) or residue (a case form becomes restricted to particular arguments as a new form develops for the other arguments, also independently of these principles). These facts call for a source-oriented approach to case marking alignment and recurrent cross-linguistic patterns in general, one where the focus shifts from the synchronic properties of individual patterns to unraveling the effects of several different diachronic phenomena that give rise to individual patterns and shape their cross-linguistic distribution over time.

Argument structure constructions in competition: The Dat-Nom/Nom-Dat alternation in Icelandic

Abstract Alternating Dat-Nom/Nom-Dat verbs in Icelandic are notorious for instantiating two diametrically opposed argument structures: the Dat-Nom and the Nom-Dat construction. We conduct a systematic study of the relevant verbs to uncover the factors steering the alternation. This involves a comparison of 15 verbs, five alternating ones, and as a control, five Nom-Dat verbs and five non-alternating Dat-Nom verbs. Our findings show that alternating verbs instantiate the Nom-Dat construction 54% of the time and the Dat-Nom construction 46% of the time on average for four of five verbs when both arguments are full NPs. However, in configurations with a nominative pronoun, the Nom-Dat construction takes precedence over the Dat-Nom construction. Also, for the double-NP configuration, a logistic regression analysis identifies indefiniteness and length as two key predictors, apart from nominative case marking. We demonstrate that the latter systematically correlates with discourse-prominence, which we show, upon closer inspection, correlates with topicality.

Syntax and semantics of laisser in causative constructions

The French verb laisser (‘to let’) allows for two different syntactic constructions, an Exceptional Case Marking (ECM) construction and a Faire-Infinitive (FI) construction with a postverbal Causee, and for two different interpretations, authorize and not-intervene. According to previous studies (e.g. Kayne 1975), constructions are related to interpretations: the ECM can express intentionality, the FI cannot. In this paper, we explore a different hypothesis: the ECM construction is underspecified and allows for both interpretations, while the FI is restricted to the not-intervening interpretation. We provide empirical evidence from three distinct forced choice tasks in which participants had to match constructions and interpretations. The results reveal that, contrary to both early observations and our initial hypothesis, both constructions may allow for both interpretations, and variation depends less on the syntactic configuration than on semantic and pragmatic factors, namely on the lexical inferences triggered by the embedded verb and the authority relation between Causer and Causee expressed in the contexts.

The Interaction of Linguistic and Visual Cues for the Processing of Case in Russian by Russian-German Bilinguals: An Eye Tracking Study.

Modulation of visual attention in the Visual World Paradigm relies on parallel processing of linguistic and visual information. Previous studies have argued that the human linguistic capacity includes an aspect of anticipation of upcoming material. Such anticipation can be triggered by both lexical and grammatical/morphosyntactic cues. In this study, we investigated the relationship between comprehension and prediction by testing how subtle changes in visual representations can affect the processing of grammatical case cues in Russian by Russian-German bilingual children (n = 49, age 8-13). The linguistic manipulation followed previous designs, contrasting SVO and OVS sentences, where the first NP (NP1) was marked with nominative or accusative case, respectively. Three types of visual displays were compared: (i) individual referents (potential agent/theme); (ii) pairs of referents (NP1 + potential agent/theme); and (iii) events (representing interactions between the referents). Participants were significantly more sensitive to the case manipulation when presented with events compared to the other two types of visual display. This suggests that they were able to quickly integrate the thematic role information signaled by grammatical case in the event representations. However, they were less likely to use the case information to anticipate upcoming arguments when the target pictures represented individual referents or pairs of noninteracting referents. We hypothesize that the process of argument anticipation is mediated by the activation of syntactic templates (SVO or OSV, depending on the case marking on NP1). The relatively weak anticipation effect observed may be attributed to the absence, or weak representation, of the noncanonical OVS template in the bilingual children's long-term memory.

Same yet different

Abstract The article compares the distributional differences in the use of the partitive object cases in Estonian and Finnish via multifactorial modeling in contrastive research using the European Parliament parallel text corpus. Based on previous contrastive research on Finnic, we expected the principles of object case marking to be similar for Estonian and Finnish (confirmed), and the partitive objects to be more numerous in Estonian than in Finnish (not confirmed, as countable objects with scalar verbs proved less likely to be partitive in Estonian). We hypothesized that multifactorial modeling in contrastive research design could help identify the causes for variation and unfold subtle differences between related language systems. Since preferences related to grammatical voice and constituent order revealed subtle differences between the systems, this hypothesis was confirmed.

Neural correlates of semantic-driven syntactic parsing in sentence comprehension

For sentence comprehension, information carried by semantic relations between constituents must be combined with other information to decode the constituent structure of a sentence, due to atypical and noisy situations of language use. Neural correlates of decoding sentence structure by semantic information have remained largely unexplored. In this functional MRI study, we examine the neural basis of semantic-driven syntactic parsing during sentence reading and compare it with that of other types of syntactic parsing driven by word order and case marking. Chinese transitive sentences of various structures were investigated, differing in word order, case making, and agent-patient semantic relations (i.e., same vs. different in animacy). For the non-canonical unmarked sentences without usable case marking, a semantic-driven effect triggered by agent-patient ambiguity was found in the left inferior frontal gyrus opercularis (IFGoper) and left inferior parietal lobule, with the activity not being modulated by naturalness factors of the sentences. The comparison between each type of non-canonical sentences with canonical sentences revealed that the non-canonicity effect engaged the left posterior frontal and temporal regions, in line with previous studies. No extra neural activity was found responsive to case marking within the non-canonical sentences. A word order effect across all types of sentences was also found in the left IFGoper, suggesting a common neural substrate between different types of parsing. The semantic-driven effect was also observed for the non-canonical marked sentences but not for the canonical sentences, suggesting that semantic information is used in decoding sentence structure in addition to case marking. The current findings illustrate the neural correlates of syntactic parsing with semantics, and provide neural evidence of how semantics facilitates syntax together with other information.

Impersonal morphosyntax in generative grammar

AbstractImpersonal constructions describe generic statements, usually about people. In this article, I discuss implications of impersonal constructions for Generative theories of morphological features, grammatical case, verbal projections, and how referentiality is derived in the syntax.

Types of use of peripheral forms of the creative case in the aspect of adverbialization (the substantive word form "in a whisper")

The stepwise nature of adverbial transposition of nouns without prepositions is investigated. The object of study is the forms of the creative case of nouns without prepositions, representing the first stage of transposition into adverbs, the subject of consideration is combinatorics and the proportion of substantive and adverbial features in the structure of word forms of the "whisper" type, functioning in the zone of the periphery of the noun class. The relevance of the research is due to the need to develop such a field of scientific research as the transpositional grammar of the Russian language, as well as to identify patterns of functioning of linguistic units in transitional zones between parts of speech and interparticle semantic and syntactic categories. The purpose of the article is a comprehensive analysis of substantive word forms that demonstrate different degrees of manifestation of signs interacting with the functional adverbialization of nouns and adverbs on two stages of the noun zone. Within the framework of the proposed approach to syncretic formations, methods of oppositional analysis (with an adverbial scale), elements of component, distributive analysis, and linguistic experiment are used. The novelty of the study consists in the description of a formalized methodology for establishing the stages of adverbialization of substantive word forms, demonstrating a different degree of departure from nouns and approximation to adverbs. It is established that the substantive word form "whisper", for example, is characterized by a multi-stage transposition into an adverbial class. In the zone of the periphery of nouns, she makes the first, actually syntactic step towards adverbs. It is associated with its use first in the syncretic function of complement and circumstance, and then only in the function of circumstance. The presence of dependent words in the form of adjectival and subsubstantial distributors, as well as the function of object complement, restrain the further advancement of the word form "in a whisper" towards the class of adverbs. The loss of object meaning in the word form under consideration is associated with a shift at the level of verbal subordination: weak control as a way of connecting the word form "in a whisper" with the main word is replaced by case adjunction. Object-circumstantial relations are transformed into circumstantial ones. But the main categorical features of nouns in the zone of the periphery of this class of words are preserved. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the fact that it contains an understanding of transitional phenomena in the field of parts of speech in a systemic linguistic aspect. The practical significance of the research is determined by the possibility of applying its results in teaching linguistic disciplines – Russian, general linguistics, theoretical grammar.

Old Norse Heimr ʻWorldʼ and its Toponymic Derivatives in the Poetic Edda

The article examines the mythopoetic concept of the ‘world’ (Old Norse heimr) and its derivatives — toponyms with the suffix -heimr in the Poetic Edda. It involves a thorough analysis of their meanings and their significance in the Eddic mythopoetic framework. The methodology for studying this lexical unit and its derivatives is based on a thesaurus description of folk terminology, alongside an exploration of polysemy within epic texts and lexicological investigations of key concepts in the Rigveda. Employing an integrated approach, the analysis considers various factors such as statistical distribution, grammatical case paradigms, syntactical functions of predicates, etymology to understand semantic motivations, mythology to reveal connections to mythological elements, poetic devices like alliteration and repetitions, and the relationship between linguistic signs and referents in the extralinguistic world. The predominance of singular forms (28) over plural forms (8) suggests two significant points: the existence of multiple worlds in the Eddic mythopoetic model initially, and an evolutionary progression from a collection of similar objects towards a unified whole. This semantic evolution is exemplified by the transition from ‘dwellings of giants’ (plural iǫtna heimar) to ‘Dwelling of giants’ = ‘World of Giants’ (singular Iǫtun-heimr). The Old Norse term heimr is associated with the universal world model depicted as a world tree (nine worlds = nine roots of Iggdrasill in Völuspá). It contributes to the construction of the Eddic chronotope in which the world tree, along with its roots (representing worlds), is described as located “under the earth,” signifying its origin. It also demonstrates temporalization, being linked with the temporal concept of age (Old Norse ƍld) and exhibits anthropocentric orientation.

ДИСКУРСИВНІ ФУНКЦІЇ ДАВНЬОГРЕЦЬКИХ ФОРМУЛ ПРИСЯГАНЬ У КОМЕДІЯХ АРІСТОФАНА

Background. This paper investigates the pragmatic and sociolinguistic features of oaths in the corpus of Aristophanes' comedies, with a particular focus on "Acharnians" and "Lysistrata." From a communicative perspective, oaths are part of a complex ritual that combines verbal and non-verbal actions to confirm the truthfulness of a declaration and ensure the fulfillment of promises through an appeal to a deity. Typically, concise formulas invoking higher powers generally introduce the declaration and only occasionally specify sanctions for breaking the oath. Thus, oaths function not only as commissives, expressing promises and commitments, but also as representatives, focusing on the truthfulness of statements; expressives, enhancing the emotional background; and declaratives, performing speech acts. Methods. This article employs structural and corpus methods, functional and discursive analysis, conversational analysis, and hermeneutic techniques. Results. Using constructivist approaches to language study, the article analyses multifunctional idiomatic units, considering their structural elements such as particles, theonyms, noun case forms, articles, and sentence position. The analysis reveals that variations in these elements create pragmatic and sociolinguistic implicatures related to the presence or absence of propositional or presuppositional negation, focus of attention, modification of the illocutionary force of the utterance, and representation of the speaker's socio-cultural identity. Specifically, gender, dialectal, thematic, and genre-stylistic markings of the formulas are identified. Conclusions. The application of constructivist and hermeneutic methods allows for the examination of idiomatic oath formulas on both the local and discursive levels, uncovering implicit meanings essential for comic effects that cannot always be reflected in translations. A corpus analysis of formula variability in dramatic genres highlights their stylistic predominance in comedy and conversational style in particular. The study concludes with a comprehensive examination of a fragment from "Lysistrata" (78-89) to reveal the contextually driven dynamics of the oaths.

Case-Marking System in Saptariya Tharu: A Typological Perspective

This paper explores the system of case marking in the Saptariya Tharu spoken in various districts of Nepal. Saptariya Tharu is identified as a nominative and accusative language, and studies are conducted to explore its case markers and postpositions. The paper discusses nominative case, accusative-dative case, locative case, genitive case, ablative case, instrumental case, and comitative case and highlights their use and examples. In addition, the paper compares the Sapataria Tharu case marking system with other Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Nepal's Terai region. It points out that most languages in this region also have nomenclature-accusation patterns. Furthermore, this article notes the similarities between these languages, emphasizing the absence of ergative case markers and the differences between instrumental, genitive, dative, and locative markers. The research concludes that it reveals a rich case-marking system of Saptariya Tharu in a broader context of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Nepal's terai region, highlighting its unique linguistic characteristics and typological similarities with neighboring languages.

The role of cognitive schemas in linguistic convergence

Abstract This article reports on some outcomes of language contact and linguistic convergence involving Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan languages in the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland. The primary focus falls on Nagamese, a lingua franca of the region that is undergoing a change in its morphosyntactic alignment typology. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that cognitive schemas are most likely responsible for the spread of replicated case marking patterns from local Tibeto-Burman languages to Nagamese, and that this has triggered a change in the alignment pattern of Nagamese over the past fifty years. The data presented in the paper are significant for demonstrating how language contact and the replication of cognitive schemas can be plausible drivers of grammatical change, even for something as fundamental to the syntax of a language as its morphosyntactic alignment.

Категория падежа в ваховском хантыйском языке (на материале современных полевых данных базы LingvoDoc)

Introduction. In Khanty dialects, the category of grammatical case shows its largely heterogeneous character and varies in terms of quantity and quality. As for Eastern Khanty, linguists hold different views on the composition of this category and its representatives, which results from a discrepancy in interpreting statuses of some case indicators. Goals. The article seeks to systematize available data on case indicators identified in Vakh Khanty and presented in scholarly studies of the nineteenth-twentieth centuries, compare them to field data obtained in the twenty first century and digitized on the LingvoDoc platform for independent research. Methods. The analysis of published data on Vakh Khanty has been carried out via the descriptive/comparative and structural research methods. Field data collection techniques for Vakh Khanty included direct observations of native speakers’ speech, a survey, interviews on various topics, audio recordings, and transcriptions of the latter. Results. Our review of the scholarly literature from the past centuries on the Vakh Khanty dialect shows a variety of opinions about the number of attested case markers and their functional specifics, an inconsistency of approaches to terming some of them, and a variance of the morphemic form designations. Analysis of the contemporary field data with the LingvoDoc platform’s functional tools and comparison of the results against some previously described data do confirm a stability of the Vakh Khanty dialect case system, identify the source of terminological synonymy in the nominal paradigm, and develop a classification of case markers based on their functional features. The functional parameter makes it possible to distinguish between a case marker with a predominantly grammatical orientation and a group of case markers whose profile is associated with the expression of semantic relations. In the group of semantic cases, further division into subgroups is also possible, due to the type of semantic specialization of individual case markers. Conclusions. Semantic cases fall into a subgroup of cases with spatial semantics, a subgroup with the semantics of compatibility, and a subgroup that combines cases with oblique (indirect) semantics. The distribution of case formants into subgroups is complicated by certain syncretism of semantics in a large number of case morphemes, which ultimately leads to some blurring of the subgroups’ boundaries and a variance in the terminological nomination of case morphemes.

The syntax of individuating and measuring pseudo-partitives in Alasha Mongolian

Pseudo-partitive constructions give rise to multiple interpretive ambiguities including a container interpretation (i.e. individuating) and a contents (i.e. measuring) one. There are two competing analyses: one based on structural ambiguities (Landman in Indefinites and the types of sets, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004; Rothstein in Brill’s J Afroasiat Lang Ling 1:106–145, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1163/187666309X12491131130783, a.o.) and one based on a uniform syntax (Lehrer in Lingua 68:109–148, 1986; Matushansky and Zwarts in Lamont and Tetzloff (eds) North East Linguistic Society (NELS) 47, Volume 2, pp 261–274, GLSA, Amherst, 2016, a.o.). I contribute to this debate with data from Alasha Mongolian (Mongolic), which differentiates each interpretation via case marking on the quantizing noun: glass-comitative = individuating vs. glass-genitive/Ø = measuring. I argue that there is no large-scale structural ambiguity: the numeral and the quantizing noun always form a constituent introduced in the specifier position of a null functional head (Schwarzschild in Syntax 9(1):67–110, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9612.2006.00083.x; Svenonius in McNally and Kennedy (eds) Adjectives and adverbs: syntax, semantics and discourse, Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, pp 16–42, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008; Ott in J Comp Ger Ling 4:1–46, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10828-010-9040-x). I propose that (i) case differences on the quantizing constituent boil down to the presence or absence of a case probe on a higher Agr head; (ii) and, the interpretive differences between the individuating and measuring pseudo-partitives are the result of a more subtle syntactic distinction in the feature content of the quantizing noun, i.e. an interpretable [±Container] feature.

Linearization and unaccusativity: The relative order of dative and nominative arguments with five German verbs of success and failure

The present study maps out the word order distributions in verb-second clauses of five German verbs of success and failure: gelingen ‘to succeed’, glücken ‘to succeed’, missglücken ‘to fail’, misslingen ‘to fail’, and missraten to fail’. Given their status as unaccusatives, they display an asymmetric mapping between case marking and thematic roles. As a consequence, several researchers have argued that they sanction an inversion of the canonical nominative-before-dative word order pattern. Two positions emerge: those scholars who associate these verbs with a dative-before-nominative order and those who claim that they license both a dative-before- nominative order as well as a nominative-before-dative order. A corpus study of 982 tokens principally shows the latter claim to be true in that, in a configuration with double NPs, the Nom-Dat order is attested 200 times (or 40%), and the Dat-Nom order 299 times (or 60%). Remarkably, when both arguments are realised as pronouns, the variation in word order is neutralised almost entirely in favour of the nominative-before-dative order.

The role of external factors on the reactivation of the heritage language of Turkish-German returnees.

This study investigates the heritage language performance of Turkish-German returnees upon their reintegration into Turkey and explores the impact of external factors on their proficiency in the (re-)activated heritage language (HL). Data collection involved the participation of 28 Turkish heritage speakers and a control group of 28 monolingual speakers. The language proficiency of both groups was assessed through a cloze test and an error correction task with a focus on converbial constructions, evidentiality and direct object case marking in Turkish. A sociolinguistic background questionnaire was used to obtain information about their language experiences. The study focused on understanding the individual and group differences in returnee's heritage language performance. Additionally, random forest analysis was employed to investigate the relative influence of external factors on individual variability within the returnee group. The analysis of results revealed notable group differences between the returnees and the control group, emphasizing the unique linguistic challenges faced by those who returned to Turkey. Within the returnee group, there was considerable individual variability in heritage language performance. The subsequent exploration of individual variation highlighted the significant role of external factors. Notably, the length of residence in Germany, the age at which participants returned to Turkey, and the frequency of Turkish language use in their migration context emerged as significant predictors of the returnee participants' proficiency in their (re-)activated HL. Surprisingly, formal contact with the dominant German language did not exert a substantial impact on the returnees' language proficiency, suggesting the nuanced influence of various external factors on heritage language development.

Zweitspracherwerb der präpositionalen Kasusrektion albanischsprachiger DaZ-Lerner

Abstract The present article examines the second language acquisition of prepositional case in German by primary school children whose first language is Albanian. I have conducted an experiment in which I examined how case within PPs is acquired and used. My study shows that the children have difficulties regarding the prepositional case marking. There is no difference between the error rate of prepositional accusative and dative. Furthermore, there is no difference among the case markings of the two-way prepositions which appears semantically driven in German with dative and accusative and the one-way prepositions which appears either with the dative or accusative. It will be argued that the morphological opacity within nominal phrases as parts of prepositional phrases in German makes the acquisition of prepositional case system difficult.

Die Präfixaufnahme von z= im Altarmenischen

The phenomenon of Suffixaufnahme refers to a type of morphosyntactic agreement whereby a dependent noun phrase shows case agreement with its head in addition to its functional case marking. The phenomenon is best known from Old Georgian and Hurro-Urartian, but also occurs elsewhere (Caucasus, ancient Mesopotamia, Australia), mainly in agglutinative languages. Classical Armenian shows a very similar type of agreement: dependents of heads in the accusative marked by the direct object proclitic z= may also receive the same proclitic marking regardless of their functional case. This paper explores two dimensions of this agreement phenomenon in Classical Armenian: a classification of its usage in fifth-century texts; and an attempt at explaining its likely origin outside of Armenian.